The author shooting from a tree saddle. (Scott Einsmann/)
Early in my bowhunting career, I set up a ladder stand on top of a ridge that had oaks and plenty of deer sign. On opening morning, I watched a deer parade go down a trail that was 20 yards out of range. I sat in that stand several more times and never had a deer come within bow range. If I had a mobile stand, I could have easily adjusted my hunting strategy to move closer to the active trail.
Mobile hunting for whitetails is all about making aggressive moves and constantly hunting fresh spots. Mobile hunters carry everything they need for a hunt so they can set up on the fresh sign and easily adapt to the conditions. That’s why they need lightweight and easy to use hunting platforms.
That old faithful ladder stand just won’t cut it when you need to slide another 100 yards closer to a bedding area. A mobile setup is also great for public land where you can’t or don’t want to leave your stand. It’s also less expensive than buying multiple permanent stands.
There are three main choices for the mobile hunter: a climber, a hang-on stand, and a tree saddle. I’ve hunted from all three of these platforms in my search for the perfect mobile hunting set up. To help with this comparison, I also reached out to Aaron Warbritton, from The Hunting Public YouTube channel. He’s been at the tip of the spear of the mobile hunting trend and offers a wealth of experience. Together we’ll see how each platform stacks up against each other in five categories: weight, setup, huntability, comfort, and price.
Weight